Some extra credit for the extracurricular

Concordia University has plans to increase emphasis on students’ extracurricular involvement in their communities and on campus, Concordia’s campus newspaper, The Link, recently reported. Concordia president Judith Woodsworth said the university will create a new official transcript detailing a student’s experiences at Concordia outside of the classroom that would accompany students’ academic transcripts. This move is part of a larger plan to generate a more distinctive identity for the school.

Fourth-year theatre students gear up for solo performances

A class of fourth-year honours theatre students at the University of Winnipeg are stepping out solo for a set of innovative theatre at the CanWest Centre for Theatre and Film Wednesday, Nov. 11 to Saturday, Nov. 14. “Chromotope: An Evening of Solo Performances,” directed by Claire Borody, will showcase an array of individual performances both created and performed by the students. The eclectic performances were influenced by a variety of artistic media, including dance, literature, music and film. Each show will consist of four 20- to 25-minute solo pieces. The showcase is free and open to all. Reservations are recommended.

YouTube meets academia

University of Manitoba nursing professor Roberta Woodgate has created YouTube videos as part of her ethnographic study on youth-focused health issues. The videos show youth speaking about their personal health concerns, how they interpret health-related information and what they do to keep themselves healthy. Woodgate’s videos are posted at www.youtube.com/roberta5674.

Students streak to protest funding cuts

Five streakers clad in nothing but their underwear led a large group of students in a protest against recent cuts made by the British Columbia government to post-secondary education, Simon Fraser University’s newspaper The Peak reported. Jonathan Brockman, a Simon Fraser Student Society representative and one of the five streakers, had some intriguing ideas when it comes to provoking change.

“Advocacy doesn’t always have to be just standing around with signs and chanting,” he said. “You can get naked, you can run around and do ridiculous things.”

Theatre students help combat H1N1

A group of University of Winnipeg theatre students have created a video called “H1N1 Survival Guide” that aims to educate youth about how to best protect themselves from the H1N1 flu. In disgusting detail, the video depicts what sorts of behaviours to avoid and what behaviours to adopt in order to stay healthy this season. The video concludes with the phrase “Take the swine out of this flu season.” To make sure you are up to par on swine flu etiquette, and to have a bit of a chuckle, go to www.tinyurl.com/H1N1vid or http://uwinnipeg.tv/.

Published in Volume 64, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 5, 2009)